Gemotions

"Another tournament, Dad?" Ben's voice, usually brimming with enthusiasm, was laced with excitement. His chess club had advanced rapidly in the past year, and it was mostly thanks to his father's coaching. The old chessboard, a family heirloom, felt heavy in Elias's hands. He'd built the love of chess in his son. But Ben was a natural, a player who now surpassed him.

Elias had been studying Ben's past games, identifying weaknesses. He knew how to exploit them, how to set traps that his son wouldn't see coming. "Just a friendly game," he had said the other day with a smile. It would be a while, Ben had no doubt, before his father lost.